Plínio Trump, Mick Jagger and Samurai Taxi Driver keep Brazil’s tradition of joke candidates alive

JUIZ DE FORA, Brazil (AP) — When helicopter pilot Plínio Vicentin Júnior drives his vintage Pontiac Grand Ville through the streets of Brazil’s southeastern state of Minas Gerais, an American flag fluttering near his windshield like a presidential motorcade, onlookers stop and stare. Júnior, 59, is running for Congress for the first time. 4, he is Plínio Trump, channeling U.S.

President Donald Trump with his hairstyle, long orange tie, firm handshake and even his stride. “(Trump) is likeable, iconic,” Plínio Trump told The Associated Press late Monday after campaigning in Juiz de Fora, a city of 570,000 residents 180 kilometers (111 miles) west of Rio de Janeiro. Most people smile and hug me.” Candidates like Plínio Trump are part of a Brazilian tradition that spans nearly eight decades.

Whether called protest candidates or joke candidates, they bring a surreal element to congressional elections. To run, they must belong to one of Brazil’s 30 political parties and meet the same eligibility requirements as other candidates, including the country’s clean-record rules. This year, a few hundred of those are among more than 7,800 candidates running for a seat in Congress, with even more running for state legislatures.

Paradoxically, while these entertaining figures can attract voters disillusioned with traditional politics, the ballots cast for them also add to their parties’ total under Brazil’s electoral system. More votes for joke candidates can translate into more seats in Congress — and more public funds for the very apparatus that protest voters are trying to reject. ‘Barack Obama’ and ’Mick Jagger’ enter the race Trump is not the only U.S.

politician with admirers in Brazil’s congressional race. Henrique Barack Obama, born Cláudio Henrique dos Anjos, has even loftier ambitions. After previous runs for office in Rio de Janeiro, he is seeking one of the two Senate seats at stake in the Federal District, home to Brazil’s capital, Brasilia.

But even those who have seen him up close acknowledge that the 57-year-old bears little resemblance to the former U.S. “It is more about his posture,” said Claudio Santos, 33, who knows the Brazilian Obama from his time in Rio. “He also likes the attention that the name brings, obviously.